High Speed Traders Are Welcome
巴西歡迎高速交易商
By Dan Horch and Nathaniel Popper

SÃO PAULO, Brazil – At a time when the mere phrase “high-frequency trading” makes some investors queasy, Brazil’s stock exchange is becoming more accommodating to digital trading.
這個節骨眼上，光是「高頻交易」一詞就能讓一些投資人反胃，巴西的證券交易所卻讓自己越來越適合數位交易。

In recent years, the BM&F Bovespa stock exchange in São Paulo has taken steps to make its market more friendly to high-frequency trading, or H.F.T., even as regulators around the world are casting an increasingly skeptical eye on the sector after a series of well-publicized market malfunctions in the United States.
聖保羅證券與期貨交易所近年一再採取行動，讓它更適合高頻交易（H.F.T.）運作，儘管美國發生一連串廣經報導的市場失靈意外，以致全球各地監理機關對這種交易越來越不放心。

Lawmakers in Canada, Australia and the European Union have been looking at imposing limits on such traders, whose investment horizons are measured in milliseconds rather than months.
加拿大、澳洲、歐洲聯盟的立法者一直有意對這類交易商設限，他們的投資期限以毫秒為單位，而不是數個月。

“Given the attention and the political discourse on the perceived dangers of H.F.T., exchanges are very reticent to be aggressive in promoting and attracting high-frequency trading,” said Andy Nybo, an analyst.
分析師奈博說：「H.F.T.如此受關注，加上政界已在討論可察覺的危險，都讓各證交所對推展和吸引高頻交易上十分低調。」

But in Brazil – as well as in other developing economies like Chile and Mexico – exchanges are courting high-speed traders without much resistance. The appeal is that the traders can execute thousands of trades a second, resulting in big fees for the exchanges.
不過，巴西和其他開發中經濟體如智利和墨西哥的證交所，都在討好高速交易商，且未遭遇太多阻力。它的魅力來自交易商可在一秒內執行數千筆交易，讓交易所賺飽費用。

The BM&F Bovespa, which closed its open trading pits in 2009 in favor of electronic trading networks, is increasing efforts to support computerized trading. In April, the Brazil stock exchange introduced a computer system, known as Puma, that allows high-speed traders to get in and out of trades more quickly. The exchange has offered these traders discounts since October 2010.
聖保羅證交所2009年關閉它的公開交易大廳，改為電子交易網絡的交易，且聖保羅證交所正加緊努力以支援電腦交易。今年四月，這個巴西證交所推出名為普馬的電腦系統，讓高速交易商買進與賣出更加快速。證交所還從2010年起提供這些交易商折扣。

The BM&F Bovespa is “very open about what they are looking to do. They really have been aggressive in welcoming all types of strategies,” Mr. Nybo said.
奈博說，聖保羅證交所「對他們想做的事非常公開。他們積極歡迎所有類型的策略」。

The stocks on the Brazilian exchange are cumulatively worth $1.2 trillion, but the average daily trading volume on the exchange is only about $3.7 billion. In the United States, a single major stock like Apple can trade more than that each day.
在聖保羅證交所掛牌公司的股票總值為1.2兆美元，但證交所單日成交量平均只約37億美元。在美國，光是一支大股，如蘋果公司，每天成交量都比它高。

The comparatively low volumes are in part a reflection of the relatively limited involvement of high-speed traders, who account for only about 10.6 percent of stock trades in Brazil. Although that is up from 8.5 percent in 2012, it is still a fraction of trading in other large global markets. In the United States, such firms dominate a majority of the trading, and in Europe, they are responsible for about 45 percent of the trading, according to Celent, a research and consulting firm.
成交量較低，部分反映了高速交易商的參與相對有限，這些高速交易商僅占巴西股市交易量約10.6%。雖然較2012年的8.5%為高，但與其他全球大型市場仍相去甚遠。市場研究與諮詢公司塞林特指出，這種公司在美國占交易大宗，在歐洲約占45%。

The Brazilian exchange’s push seems like a risky gambit to many critics of the acceleration of American markets over the last decade.
對過去十年美國市場加速成長期期以為不可的許多評論家認為，巴西證交所推動此事，似乎是在走險棋。

High-frequency traders have been accused of using technology to move share prices for their own advantage and to trick traditional investors. They have also taken some of the blame for market mishaps like the “flash crash” in May 2010, when stock indexes dropped nearly 10 percent in less than half an hour.
有人指控高頻交易商利用科技讓股價朝對他們有利的方向移動，並欺騙傳統投資人。市場發生的一些股災，如2010年5月股價指數不到半小時就重挫近10%的「閃跌」事件，這些高頻交易商要負部分責任。

Wallace C. Turbeville, a senior fellow at Demos, a research group in New York, said most offers made by high-frequency trading firms were “illusory”: they exist not to be executed, but to measure, distort and exploit market sentiment, increasing volatility and costs for other investors.
紐約研究集團「德莫斯」高級研究員特貝維爾說，高頻交易公司提供的交易，多數是「虛幻的」，不是為了完成，僅用來試探、扭曲和利用市場的氛圍，但會使市場波動變大，讓其他投資人付出代價。

Brazilian executives say they believe they have been able to avoid problems through strict regulation. They are also trying to hold back many of the other technological developments that have complicated American and European markets. Brazil has, for instance, banned private venues where trades can be executed out of the public eye, known as dark pools.
巴西的決策者表示，他們自認有能力透過嚴格的規範，避免問題產生。他們也正設法對使美歐市場更複雜的許多其他技術發展喊停。舉例來說，巴西已對私人交易場所設禁，避免交易在公眾視線以外的地方執行，也就是所謂的暗池交易。

And unlike in the United States, which has 13 public stock exchanges, the BM&F Bovespa remains the only place to trade stocks in Brazil.
另外，和美國有13個公開證券交易所不同，聖保羅證交所仍是巴西股票唯一的交易場所。

Cicero Vieira, the BM&F Bovespa’s chief operating officer, said a single trading environment meant computerized trading firms had fewer opportunities for arbitrage – Simultaneously selling high in one place and buying low in another –Which should limit the trading from growing past 20 percent or so of the total volume.
聖保羅證券與期貨交易所營運長維艾拉說，單一交易環境意味電腦化的交易公司較難套利同一時間在一個地點高賣，在另一個地點低買，因此應該可將高頻交易的成長限制在不超過總成交量的20%左右。

“When it comes to H.F.T.’s, there is no such thing as zero risk,” Mr. Vieira said. “Our philosophy is to contain the impact of errors.”
維艾拉說：「從事H.F.T.，沒有零風險這回事。我們的理念是把錯誤造成的影響降到最低。」

原文參照：
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/despite-risks-brazil-courts-the-millisecond-investor/

2013-06-11聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報七版右